The Nonlinear View of the Self-organizing Universe
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Chapter 1:
Observing the Universal Self-organizing Process at Different Scales
Let’s start by observing our body’s network to see how the self-organizing process is capable of performing the most complex tasks with minimum effort.
The human body as a self-organizing, living system
As soon as one thinks of a word to be spoken, four million neurons and cells synchronize in order to deliver that single word to the listener. And while the human body is performing this complex task, it is also regulating its oxygen levels, sugar levels, enzymes, temperature, heartbeat, and more. Acknowledging the simultaneous performance of multiple systems within the human body network without conscious effort allows us to observe the deep simplicity of nonlinear systems as they are self-organizing, living systems and their capability of performing complex tasks with minimum effort. This deep simplicity is inherent throughout the whole universe and so we can observe it not only in our body but in other inhabitants of our green planet and throughout our solar system.
Observing the vast, creative universe
We can observe this deep simplicity within animal networks as well. When bees are needing to move their hive to a new location, they go through this nonlinear self-organizing process. First they send 50 or so expert navigator bees to scout for a new location. These investigator bees then return to the original hive and dance to communicate where each is suggesting the hive might move. The direction of the dance points to the new potential location, the duration of the dance correlates to its distance, and the rate of wing movement describes its quality. The investigators then examine that information more closely and this process happens repeatedly until eventually they all synchronize with the suitable location, and a decision is made.
In plant and fungal networks, we can find this deep simplicity in their cooperation. Plant networks share food and nutrients with each other through their root systems and shared fungal networks through a nonlinear, self-organizing, cooperative process, which creates oxygen for fungi and animals. In the 2019 documentary Fantastic Fungi, we see that fungal systems are a major part of how plants communicate with one another. The vast, nonlinear mycelial networks help the living systems they are a part of by communicating needs and warnings of danger or scarce resources to seemingly separate parts of the interconnected systems. For example, if one area is lacking a nutrient that the trees in that area need, this need is communicated via the networks of mycelium often over great distances so that the plants and fungi that are in areas where this nutrient is more available are able to transport that nutrient via their root and mycelial networks to the area in need. In this way these systems of separate biological kingdoms are self-organizing via nonlinear communication and the cooperative synchronization of the network’s members’ assets (expertise, intelligence, and resources) in order to perform with higher efficiency and deep simplicity, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
At the planetary scale, we can observe this deep simplicity in how Earth uses its different capabilities to make a habitable planet. For instance, storms in Africa’s Sahara Desert can bring minerals to the Amazon Rainforest. The wind that carries minerals across the ocean creates a static charge in the clouds above the Amazon that forms lightning, and this acts as a catalyst for chemical reactions between nitrogen, oxygen, and other minerals that provide nutritional rain for the plants below. Those plants then convert photons received from the sun into sugars, which ultimately provide protein and oxygen that serves as nutrients to the other inhabitants of Earth.
At the solar level, according to current knowledge, there are 100 billion galaxies, each with 200 billion stars; and one of those stars is our Sun. Our Sun is made of around 98 percent helium and hydrogen, the two simplest elements on the Periodic Table. From these simple elements comes a capability of creating a unique gravitational field that gathers the celestial bodies that we know as our solar system. This gravitational field arranged our solar system in such a way that placed our Earth in a position where it is capable of creating and sustaining life as we know it.
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Now that we have observed the deep simplicity of this amazing process happening at multiple levels of our universe, we will investigate the nonlinear networks that are the organizational pattern of the self-organizing systems. Next we will explore how by studying nonlinear networks, we can obtain the essential behaviors of the self-organizing process.
Chapter 2:
Nonlinear Networks
A nonlinear network is a mathematical pattern of self-organizing systems. Because nonlinear networks are mathematical, our observation of them will not deal with substance, rather their shared qualities between nonlinear networks, which will bring us to a deeper understanding of the self-organizing process.
First we will look at how nonlinear networks are made of order and randomness simultaneously. Then we will explore how there is an uneven power law distribution that applies to all networks universally. And the observation of this universal quality will bring us to the universality of behavior of all nonlinear networks, allowing for the familiarity of one nonlinear network to grant access to knowledge of all others at scale.
Order and randomness
Nonlinear networks are made of a combination of order and randomness. A natural example of the combination of order and randomness can be observed in the human heart. If the rhythm of our heart was strictly orderly and invariable, the heart muscle would get tired after so many beats (around two trillion beats in an average lifetime). A little bit of randomness makes our heart’s rhythm erratic, having slight variations between each beat it keeps. These slight variations allow for part of the heart to rest while the whole is still performing as a system. Without this inconsistency, our heart would tire out, and our heartbeat would become unsustainable.
Order brings clustering and structural cohesiveness; and randomness makes a highly connected network with the lowest degree of separation. Randomness also makes the nonlinear network flexible enough to experience instability, giving its components the ability to function far from equilibrium: in the chaotic zone. Upon reaching a critical point, networks become fractal and a new order of greater complexity emerges simultaneously. All the components of the network synchronize their assets to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This creative and cognitive process is constantly occurring throughout our world and universe.
Nonlinear networks are highly connected and therefore able to transfer and process information at a high rate of efficiency. All nonlinear networks have emerging and flexible structures that permit the transference of information over a multitude of interconnected routes.
From Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks (2002) by Mark Buchanan
An example of this can be seen when water is heated and the water molecules at the bottom of the container (if the heat source is at the base, as it is on a stovetop or hotplate) start moving upward randomly in different directions. The more heat they receive, the more chaotic their upward movement becomes. Upon reaching a critical point, a new order suddenly emerges in which each water molecule joins one of the many three-dimensional hexagons as shown in the diagram below:
Water molecules, when heated, create a new order from randomness.
Molecules at the bottom travel vertically to the top and then move down the sides of the hexagons. They move in such an orderly fashion that it seems as if they could all be aware of each other.
In the context of order, chaos, and synchronization within nonlinear networks, new order emerges when all the elements within a given system synchronize. Their cooperation creates a synergetic relationship among them, elevating the quality and functionality of the network as a whole which is capable of performing at a higher level than the sum of its individual parts. We have all experienced this holistic, cooperative effect among large gatherings of people at concerts, games, political demonstrations, or religious events. Steven Strogatz explains this concept further in his book Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order (2003):
At the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat: the sound of cycles in sync. It pervades nature at every scale from the nucleus to the cosmos. Every night along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, thousands of fireflies congregate in the mangroves and flash in unison, without any leader or cue from the environment. Trillions of electrons march in lockstep in a superconductor, enabling electricity to flow through it with zero resistance. In the solar system, gravitational synchrony can eject huge boulders out of the asteroid belt and toward Earth; the cataclysmic impact of one such meteor is thought to have killed the dinosaurs. Even our bodies are symphonies of rhythm, kept alive by the relentless, coordinated firing of thousands of pacemaker cells in our hearts. And that raises a profound mystery: scientists have long been baffled by the existence of spontaneous order in the universe. The law of thermodynamics seems to dictate the opposite, that nature should inexorably degenerate toward a state of greater disorder, greater entropy. Yet all around us we see magnificent structure-galaxies, cells, ecosystems, human beings, that have somehow managed to assemble themselves. This enigma bedevils all of science today. The tendency to synchronize is one of the most pervasive drives in the universe, extending from atoms to animals, from people to planets. All the examples are variations on the same mathematical theme: self-organization, the spontaneous emergence of order out of chaos.
One of the best modern examples of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts is the function of light in the form of a laser. The intense, coherent, needle-thin beam of light is a result of trillions of atoms emitting light waves in sync with one another. The atoms themselves are no different from those in an ordinary light bulb; the trick is the way they cooperate as a group. Instead of a cacophonous light of different colors and phases, laser light is one color and one phase—a choir singing the same note. The resulting laser is composed of the atoms which collectively create a beam that is more than what the atoms are capable of individually.
The integrative, synchronized, and emergent behavior of the components results in the holistic, cooperative, and qualitative characteristic of nonlinear networks. The synergistic character of nonlinear systems is also what makes them such rich subjects worthy of focused exploration. Every major unsolved problem in science, from consciousness to cancer to the unpredictability of the economy, can be better understood with a nonlinear approach. As is evident in a laser, the synchronized whole has a quality and functionality which none of the individual components had on their own.
Nonlinear networks have an uneven power law distribution
The distribution of components in nonlinear networks follows an uneven power law distribution. For instance, the Sun is composed of 71 percent hydrogen and 27 percent helium. The remaining two percent is composed of a variety of elements that are not equally distributed. Oxygen is the most abundant of that two percent (at 42.9 percent), followed by carbon (17.7 percent), and iron (9.7 percent). Various metals make up the tiny remainder of that two percent. This uneven and scale-free type of distribution is called a power law distribution. It is one of the most universal characteristics of nonlinear networks.
Within a nonlinear network such as the internet, those sites with the most connections have the lowest degree of participation, and the sites that exhibit the highest degree of participation have the fewest links or connections. Take for example Google, Amazon, or other large websites: there are only a few of them participating at that level, so they have the most connection with other websites. Because those few large sites have so many connections, they have more power within the network and their effectiveness to reach other websites within the network is that much stronger. These are the hubs of the network, and they are crucial in supporting the stability and robustness of the whole network. But those sites that have the highest degree of participation, such as the millions of small personal websites, have the fewest connections. In nonlinear networks, the members with higher connectivity in the network have more power and more control over the whole network.
Power Law Distribution of participation and connections among websites
The power law distribution principle applies to all nonlinear networks, including networks within the body that regulate our blood circulation and nervous system, and the networks throughout the rest of our natural world.
Nonlinear networks display self-similarity and universality
Fractals are created by the repetition of basic operational rules, and this signifies a deep simplicity at the core of the creation of this complex universe. Self-similarity is a powerful property of nonlinear systems. Duncan J. Watts connects this self-similarity to the principle of universality in his Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (2003) as follows:
The observation that very different systems can exhibit fundamental similarities is generally referred to as universality, and its apparent validity presents one of the deepest and most powerful mysteries in modern physics. It is mysterious because there is no obvious reason why systems as different as superconductors, ferromagnets, freezing liquids, and underground oil reservoirs should have anything in common at all. And it is powerful precisely because they do have something in common, which tells us that at least some of the properties of extremely complicated systems can be understood without knowing anything about their detailed structure or governing rules.
There is no proportionality between cause and effect
Pulling further from Strogatz’s Sync:
Linear equations describe simple, idealized situations where causes are proportional to effects, and forces are proportional to responses. Linear equations are tractable because they are modular: they can be broken into pieces. Each piece can be analyzed separately and solved, and finally all the separate answers can be recombined—literally added back together—to give the right answer to the problem.
In a linear system, the whole is exactly equal to the sum of the parts. But linearity is often an approximation of a more complicated reality. Most systems behave linearly only when they are close to equilibrium, and only when we don’t push them too hard.
Since nonlinear systems perform far from equilibrium, cause and effect are not proportional. In a nonlinear system, small changes may have dramatic effects because they may be amplified by self-regulating feedback loops. In highly connected nonlinear networks, sometimes small changes can have major implications, while at other times even major changes can be absorbed with remarkably little disruption.
When we observe the real world from a nonlinear perspective, we see examples all around us in which cause and effect are not proportional. The behavior of water illustrates this principle of network theory. Water has one exceptional property when compared to any other liquid: when it freezes, its volume increases and its density decreases. This ability to gain volume while transitioning between liquid and solid makes ice lighter than water. This is why ice floats on top of liquid water. Scientists believe that because of this property, during the early ice ages, ice on the top of the oceans protected the water underneath from volatile, unlivable conditions on the surface while being thin enough to allow some sunlight through, thus enabling the early phases of microbiological development to survive. Without this exceptional property of water, we would not exist to know about it; human life was made possible by one seemingly insignificant property of water.
In his book The Web of Life (1997), Fritjof Capra contextualizes the power law distribution within fractal mathematics:
In nonlinear systems, small changes may have dramatic effects because they may be amplified repeatedly by self-reinforcing feedback. Such nonlinear feedback processes are the basis of the instabilities and the sudden emergence of new forms of order that are so characteristic of self-organization. Mathematically, a feedback loop corresponds to a special kind of nonlinear process known as iteration, in which a function operates repeatedly on itself.
If we take a nonlinear function and assume initial values for constants and variables for the first round, then start applying the iteration process by repeatedly taking the resulting value and feeding it back into the system, we may see that the patterns are diverging, converging, or constant. But eventually we reach a zone where the results provide chaotic values without any traceable pattern. With the help of a computer, we can divide that chaotic zone into thousands of points and plot the obtained values. The resulting plotted values reveal self-similar fractal patterns in which any magnified part resembles the larger section from which it was taken. As we observe this process, we will notice that even though we see chaos on the surface, at deeper levels of observation the elements are creating an emerging order of self-similar patterns. If examined at different scales, they all display the same degree of order. In other words, they look the same at all scales.
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We’ve discussed how nonlinear networks are made of order and randomness, and because they perform at the chaotic zone where there is no proportionality of cause and effect, they follow a power law distribution and they display self-similarity and universality. Next we will explore the historical development of the linear approximate model, and how this became the currently dominant model in our thinking and activities.
Chapter 3:
The Duality of the Brain in Perceiving and Processing Information
We can begin to understand the human body as a nonlinear network by looking more closely at how we have developed a linear model of the universe through our self-awareness process, and how that model has led humanity to perceive itself as disconnected from the guidance of the self-organizing process of the universe. What we will find is that this perception both granted us the capabilities of incredible technologies, and that this linear perception based subjective observation ultimately is an approximation of the real performance of the universe.
Early in our development, human beings began using their hands and vocal systems to increase their ability to cooperate with each other. They used sign language for short-range communication and vocal projections for long-range communication. They mimicked the sounds of other animals to attract certain animals and distract dangerous ones. Combining sign language and vocal projections eventually created a subjective virtual world of information. The expression of abstract concepts enabled an agreed upon perception of physical objects when the communicator and communicatee were physically distant from the objects being described.
This separation of subject from the object was a major achievement in communicative technology and the development of human consciousness; and it also allowed us to illusively separate ourselves from the greater environment. This illusive separation created a linear perception that assumes that we are all alone in this universe, struggling to survive, independent and separate from the greater network. And we therefore created a linear, approximate model that aims to protect our separated self from the rest of the universe.
The stability and order that exists in our immediate surroundings including the orderly cycles of our sun, moon, seasons, and so on led us to believe that this approximate linear model is an accurate model, because there is a perceived proportionality and predictability of cause and effect in our observations. The approximate model is a simplified model that eliminates randomness by reducing the web of events to only one or so seemingly most significant causes, and the result is that we overlook the randomness that is a part of the real world and reduce it all to a narrative of orderly and linear events. And so from our linear observations, we began relying on linear thinking—a reduced logic. This perceived order of linear thinking is a very powerful tool to work with when working with systems that are performing at equilibrium. These orderly and stable systems are modular and can be broken into pieces. Each piece can be analyzed separately and solved, and finally all the separate answers can be recombined, literally added back together, to provide the same answer to the problem. These linear systems are what our current reductionist science is based on, and with linear perception the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. But linearity approximates a nonlinear reality, and therefore overlooks a reality that is performing at the edge of chaos: where cause and effect are not proportional, and the whole which is greater than the sum of the parts.
Any event is the result of a collective web of events
According to the universality of the power law distribution of nonlinear networks, there is a dominant participant in any network of events. Eliminating the supposedly insignificant participants of the event and focusing on only the dominant participant provides a predictability that provides determinism, certainty, and expectation as tools for judgment and control over outside events. When we focus on the dominant element and get the expected result, it further reinforces our belief in the linear model. Therefore, our linear thinking becomes a judgmental logic based on approximate models. Then by modeling the world in our mind this way, we notice that there is proportionality between the distance from the source and the clarity of what we see or hear. This reinforcement leads us to believe that cause and effect are proportional, as focusing on the dominant element provides higher predictability and reinforces our judgmental logic and linear thinking.
Let’s observe the lack of proportionality between cause and effect in an event such as a car crash. In this scenario consider a car crash at an intersection with a stoplight. If one driver received a phone call just as they were heading out the door and it was a wrong number, this would have delayed them by just a few seconds. This delay would have the driver reaching the intersection at a slightly different time than they would have otherwise. The second driver runs a red light and hits them. This event, like any other we experience, has an indeterminable network of interconnected events and experiences that precede the moment of the accident. Using linear logic, we freeze the event at the moment of the accident and judge the dominant cause based on information most immediate to the moment of the crash: the other driver might have been drunk, sleepy, or otherwise distracted leading them to run a light. But in reality, there are many factors that led to the crash in that intersection. If the first driver had not answered that wrong number, they would have passed through that intersection a few seconds earlier, avoiding the accident. The phone call was such an insignificant cause, but it potentially had a major effect.
Since our linear logic is based on the proportionality of cause and effect, the chaos and uncertainty in the nonlinear world highlights the non-proportionality of cause and effect and inconsistency of our linear judgment system, and our values and beliefs rooted in our linear model. So why do we continue to perceive, think, behave, relate, and create value systems based in linearity?
Linear thinking as a defense mechanism
Linear thinking has been implemented as a defense mechanism to protect this illusively separated identity. It is possible that the areas of the brain that create procedural memories and define our orientations when we are thinking linearly are the same areas of the brain that activate our survival instincts. The defensive nature of linear thinking leads to a negative attitude towards change as it codes that which is being perceived by the body network based upon difference or judgment. And this judgment of what is “different” or “separate” has led to a perception of the world that is dominantly biased towards fear, guilt, blame, anger, violence, and hopelessness. This general fear of change also results in a lower quality of information processing, particularly of chaotic events and challenges that we are witnessing in our increasingly nonlinear digital world. By focusing on the liabilities of our actions rather than the achievements, we are unable to benefit from our achievements because we are not appreciating them as assets of a greater whole that could then be combined with other appreciated assets to create a sum that is greater than its individual parts. Guided by our perceived illusive separation, we created linear relationships based in this linear judgment for the purposes of self-assertion, short-term gain, domination, competition, control, and liability management. And this has led to our development of linear values based on rigidity, quantity, and consumption.
Some neuropsychologists are calling linear thinking the “default state of mind.” According to psychologist Kelly McGoinigal in her work The Neuroscience of Change, in the default state of mind, we hold a critical opinion about the present. By time traveling in our minds, we create an alternate reality, regretting the past and projecting it as a negative liability onto the future. Worrying about the past or future prevents us from giving full attention to the present, and it hinders our ability to focus our creative brains to manage current challenges. The default state of mind also creates a self-referential identity, or ego, separate from others, which linearly leads us to be compelled to defend it. According to psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar Iain McGilchrist in his The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning and neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight, the human brain consciously perceives and processes information in the left-side hemisphere and unconsciously in the right-side. Although dividing the brain strictly into two regions is an oversimplification and is not a holistic approach, when we think linearly (in “default” or “survival mode”) most activity takes place in the left-side hemisphere; when we are thinking nonlinearly by implementing systems thinking, the majority of activity takes place in the right-side. While the left-side brain is analytical, deterministic, judgmental, reductionist, archetypally masculine, and materialistic, the right brain is observant, nonjudgmental, holistic, archetypally feminine, and spiritual. The left-side primarily perceives and processes information in a more orderly, liability management-focused, linear way, creating a model or perception that separates us from the self-organizing universe. The right-side, however, primarily perceives and processes information in a nonlinear manner creating a model or perception of the world that is holistic and focused on asset management, as it is connected and synced with the inherent self-organizing process of the universe.
Currently, linear thinking and left-side brain activity is dominant not only in our minds, but throughout our societal structures. The social design favoring linear thinking propagates linear values and those who are able to learn to embrace and operate by these values are rewarded by social advancement as they navigate our various social systems. This linear bias can also be seen in the design of so many of our tools that favor the left-side brain, which controls the right-side of the body. By designing this way we are perpetuating linear values and their domination over the whole human network. And by aligning with this pattern of a dominating perception of the world, we are furthering an imbalance within the physical body while we externally design our environment and education systems encourage linear, archetypally masculine, dominant thinking. In exchange for our linear biases, we have lost touch with a natural intuitiveness, spirituality, and creativity that will only re-emerge once we bring back into balance our left- and right-side brains.
On the other hand, systems thinking is nonlinear thinking that is rooted in the greater self-organizing process of the universe, and so it is a perception that observes the universe as a highly interconnected, dynamic network of relationships and recognizes how the components of a network interact to give rise to emergent processes. It is a holistic logic based on behaviors of nonlinear living networks in which all members implement their assets in a manner of cooperation and partnership to achieve the long-term goals of the whole network, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of the network’s parts that is beneficial to all members of the network. The non-proportionality of cause and effect that creates an inconsistency in our linear judgment also provides an observant and nonjudgmental quality to nonlinear thinking. Nonlinear logic is a thinking that welcomes change and challenges as it recognizes chaos as a prerequisite to evolve to a higher level of cognitive order through self-organization.
Because systems thinking is consistent with the inherent self-organizing process of the universe, we can use systems thinking to guide us to reconnect with the greater creative process. It’s a paradigm shift in our model of the universe toward simplicity, flexibility, quality, patterns, relationships, cognitive process, interconnectivity, and interdependency, shifting our perception from separation to connectedness of the whole. This shift in perception encourages our thinking based in negativity, blame, anger, revenge, violence, and hopelessness to shift to logic that is observant, positive, forgiving, tolerant, peaceful, and hopeful. As we shift our thinking, we too will shift our behaviors as this new highly interconnected model, and subsequently we will see a shift in our relationships from self-assertive to integrative, from rational to intuitive, and from reductionist to holistic, as we begin to observe the value of practicing unconditional love. It will also shift our values of consumption to conservation, competition to cooperation, quantity to quality, domination to partnership, rigidity to flexibility, and liability management to asset management, as we become more interested in supporting all the parts and their relationships because it is acknowledging each as contributing assets serving the greater system. As we shift from linear to nonlinear thinking, we gain a greater ability to intuit as well as to process information analytically, further benefiting all highly connected members and their connections with highest efficiency. In this way nonlinear thinking provides a hopeful, creative, peaceful, ecologically harmonic framework to navigate a nonlinear, chaotic, digitally integrated world.
Nonlinear thinking provides an arena for a state of mind commonly being referred to as “mindfulness.” When we are mindful, we experience events with our senses rather than our judgments. We are fully aware of the present moment as a creative mode where we are selfless, totally connected to the flow of the inherent self-organizing process of the universe, with the knowledge and power of the whole system. Many athletes and musicians describe this flow state as being “in the zone” where the linear, logical mind is no longer the dominating force and the person’s performance seems to be nearly effortlessly guided by higher intuitive instruction. It is highly possible that this state of mind activates the areas of our brain where all metaphysical experiences of our ancestors have been stored, and this is likely why many nonlinear scientists have a certain degree of spiritual awareness.
It is very important to recognize that linear modeling, reductionist science, and its corresponding technologies are incredibly useful tools that enabled us to achieve our current understanding of nonlinear science, the concept of the living universe, nonlinear logic, and even our realizations of the limitations and liabilities of the linear model itself. In this way, the linear model is a major achievement in our expanding understanding of our universe and of the continued development of human consciousness. Linear thinking is an asset in providing communicable order to our routine activities, including communicating the ideas inspiring this writing with you, the reader. And so, the main purpose of this writing is to encourage the unification of linear and nonlinear perception in order to achieve the ultimate potential of our creative minds. And though the process of developing linear thinking may seem off course from the greater self-organizing process we are a part of, it has served more as a detour that is leading us back to join with the self-organizing process with more measurable understanding of how to perform in synchronization with it. We are at a point in human history where we have consumed the resources of the Earth and converted them into information that we’ve used to reinforce our linear model, perception, thinking, behavior, relationship, and values. And now we have arrived at a moment where this information is allowing us to recognize that we are part of a greater self-organizing process, to examine how that process works, and to discover how we can align ourselves with it.
In the current digital age, a combination of nonlinear theories, cognitive science, neuropsychology, and spiritual teachings allow us to acknowledge the power of the linear and nonlinear perceptions and how to holistically integrate the two to achieve the ultimate potentials that exist within us. By investigating how the domination of linear logic functions in the human body, we will gain deeper insight into how to realign ourselves with the ongoing self-organizing process of our body.
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With what we have learned about self-organizing living networks, next we’ll investigate our body network as a metaphor for any self-organizing network. In the process we will find out how the domination of linear thinking and relationships created a disconnection from the universal, ongoing, self-organizing process. And because of the universality of behavior of all nonlinear networks, these observations can then be applied as a metaphor to any network at any scale.
Chapter 4:
Investigating the Human Body as a Metaphor for Self-organizing Networks
When we investigate how the domination of linear logic functions in the human body, we gain deeper insight into the linearity of human behavior. As a nonlinear network, our body has a power law distribution in terms of energy distribution, control, and consumption. This can be seen in how although the brain accounts for only 2.5 percent of the whole body’s weight, it has dominant control over the whole body and it consumes more energy per gram per second than any other organ in our body, making it the main hub of our body network. The function of the hub is crucial for stability, sustainability, and robustness of the whole network when it participates in nonlinear relationship with the rest of the network. Subconsciously the brain syncs with the whole body, allowing us to perform with deep simplicity.
Consciously, however, as the domination of linear thinking illusively separates ourselves from the universe, it illusively separates the brain from the body network as well. Driven by self-assertiveness and short-term gain, the linearly-minded brain then implements linear relationship between it and other members of the body network instead of holistic and integrated behavior. And as a result, the brain often maintains and entertains itself at the expense of the rest of the body, prioritizing entertainment, habits, liability management, and control. Our brain can be so shortsighted that it does not realize that its own long-term sustainability is connected to the wellbeing of the whole body network, not just its own. To satisfy our brains’ short-term desires, we consume more than we need, and we suffer the consequences later. In this way, we see how linear thinking also leads us to exhibit a similar tendency toward other members of the web of life, including plants, animals, the Earth itself, and even other humans. We divide each other into genders, races, nations, and separate beliefs; and instead of cooperating and utilizing asset management with the whole network to achieve optimum synergy, we focus mostly on differences and liability management, rather than recognizing shared values.
The body network is a whole organism made up of many subnetworks (respiratory, circulatory, immune, central nervous, muscle, skeletal system, etc.), which are all cognitive systems according to Santiago theory. Though it is another part embedded within the overall network, the domination of linear thinking has led us to believe that the brain is the only member of this multi-system cognitive network. For instance, we tend to view the heart only as a pump; but the heart is another center that perceives information through gut feeling and intuition. We tend to ignore the heart’s potential beyond its mechanical functionality, along with the potential of other participants within the body network, though they are collectively creating our perception of the universe. This perception of members of our body network performing in limited ways leads us to ignore perceivable relationships amongst the various nonlinear systems that are part of a greater cognitive network.
Once we start observing our actions, thinking, and habits with systemic thinking, relationship, and values, those observations act as a self-organizing feedback system. Consciously participating in this feedback system will allow us to overcome the dominance of linear perception to synchronize our left- and right-sides of the brain. By shifting the domination of the left-side to a cooperation of left- and right-sides, we will eventually sync the whole brain with the whole body network and fully optimize the potential of our brains in a way that is in sync and harmony with the greater networks we are a part of. After our brain goes through this process of observation and the self-organizing process that results, the brain will reconnect with this inherent, universal, self-organizing process that orchestrates our universe. And the result will be a more efficient brain and a more healthy body, and we will become mentally and physically more sustainable. The paradigm shift will start within our individual body networks, and will expand to any network that we are participating in at any scale.
The development of an app that monitors our linear behaviors could provide feedback that guides us to shift toward systems relationships and values would be instrumental in personal development, and its findings could be applied to any other network at scale.
Chapter 5:
The Impact of Acknowledging the Inherent Self-organizing Process: Integrating Science, Spirituality, and Philosophy
When we observe the historical pattern of the progression of western science, there is an emergent pattern of foundational assumptions and theories shifting from a static, rigid, and linear view of the universe to a more dynamic, flexible, and nonlinear view. We are shifting from a mathematical perception initially based in Euclidean geometry, which deals with static shapes or the flat concept of Earth, to one of fractal geometry, which collectively explain the dynamic, flexible, and nonlinear world, such as the self-organizing process of living systems. The following shifts are the result of a series of nonlinear discoveries that have changed our understanding of fundamental scientific paradigms, many of which are being explored by renowned scientists including Fritjof Capra, Steven Strogatz, Mark Buchanan, Albert-László Barabási, and their colleagues.
The first shift is understanding that the universe is not made of fundamental building blocks but in its purest form is constantly moving energy that contains a cognitive pattern of information. The dancing energy has a pattern of information that can be found everywhere. Each creature on Earth is composed of information; information sits at the center of our cells and rattles around in our brains. Every particle in the universe, every electron, every atom, every star, and each one of the countless galaxies throughout our universe is packed full of information. That information is always flowing, moving from place to place, spreading throughout the cosmos.
Therefore, energy and information are the most essential components of the universe, and so we can observe the universe as being made of cognitive energy. And as cosmic history has progressed, our energetic universe has evolved to contain a diverse array of complex life forms that are capable of processing this complex, energetic information, including human beings. Now that we have processed the information of our universe structurally and quantitatively, we are shifting to processing this information through qualitative evaluation. In the old paradigm, it was the structure that determined the processes; in the new paradigm, the process is primary, and every structure we observe is a manifestation of an underlying process. And focusing on patterns, relationship, and networks allows us to more deeply understand this process.
The second shift is due to the discovery of entanglement phenomena which created a new era of understanding that we are dealing with an interdependent, interconnected, correlated, and nonlinear universe. And in order to understand this universe we must remodel our approach to be similarly holistic, systemic, and nonlinear.
The third shift is a shift in the relationship between the observer and the observed, as we are recognizing that there is also entanglement among the consciousness of a human observer and the observed universe—for when we try to observe the dualistic behavior of a photon it responds to our observation.
The fourth shift is one of our perception of chaos. This shift is being facilitated by our recognition of the nonlinear network as the structural organization of all living systems. This recognition is allowing us to develop a deeper understanding of randomness and its significant role in a nonlinear world, and to acknowledge that there is an amazing order beyond our perceived chaos as we observe how nonlinear networks manifest themselves into fractal patterns. As fractal patterns, they become self-organizing systems when the behavioral patterns of the elements and the whole system are in sync, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Considering chaos as an emergent zone leading us to a higher order through synchronization will allow us to shift our negative perception of chaos as purely destructive and adopt positive, hopeful, and comfortable perception of it as an essential part of a greater creative process of our self-organizing universe.
The fifth shift is a recognition that there is a deep simplicity that governs the universe, and the search for the unified theory that describes this deep simplicity is shifting from physics to living science, and eventually self-organizing networks. In his book Decoding the Universe (2007), Charles Seife describes this shift as our metaphors for our defined order of the universe continues to evolve:
There is a long tradition of using pinnacles of science and its corresponding technology as a metaphor for the universe. In ancient Greece, geometry, surveying equipment and musical instruments were the science and technological wonders of the age, and Greeks regarded the cosmos as a manifestation of geometric relationships and the most complex technology, and Newton described a deterministic clockwork universe, with time as an infinitely precise parameter that gauged all cosmic change. In the nineteenth century, with advancements in thermodynamics and entropy, and development of the steam engine, Clausius, Von Helmholtz, Boltzmann, and Maxwell described the universe as a gigantic entropy-generating heat engine, sliding inexorably to a cosmic heat death.
The last few decades have been dominated by the development of computer science and information technology, resulting in the proposition of the metaphor of the universe as a gigantic computer by Seth Lloyd, Gregg Braden, and other scientists. Now, our continuously advancing observational technology allows us to witness the self-organizing process and fractal dimension of the universe at different scales in ways we were previously unable. Our expanding perception combined with advancements in biomimicry have provided a new metaphor of the universe as a living system. Although Gaia theory has been accepted among scientists since the 1970s, until recently achievements had not been applied to our understanding of the Earth as a living system. Similarly, many spiritual thinkers had not paid attention to Gaia theory and the emerging living universe metaphor and how Gaia theory is consistent with most spiritual traditions. And now we are seeing the living universe metaphor having the potential of providing a theory capable of unifying the previously siloed conversations of science and spirituality.
The Universe is made of cognitive energy
The universe is made of cognitive energy and cognitive energy performs in its most efficient form as a wave; but when it experiences local stability, it performs as particles. The particles carry an inherent spiral pattern of information (which could be demonstrated by the fractal dimension of the golden ratio) that makes them capable of organizing themselves in nonlinear network patterns, to perform at the chaotic zone, become fractal, and create the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. And so energy experiencing local stability as molecules is able to organize itself in this inherent nonlinear network to create enzymes with a higher level of functionality, content of information, and intelligence with a higher cognitive purpose. With a similar organizational pattern, these enzymes create proteins that contain a higher level of such qualities. If we follow this expanding perspective from enzyme to protein, protein to cell, cell to organ, and organ to our body, there is always a higher intelligence or cognitive purpose at each level.
By applying this observation of the body network to the collective consciousness of humanity, we then come to the consciousness and cognitive purpose of the entire Earth (which includes collective intelligence of humans, plants, animals, and the planet itself) we can observe it all as an interconnected system of cognitive information that is collectively greater than the sum of Earth’s individual parts. From there, we can zoom out even further to other planets, to our solar system, and to galaxies and acknowledge each having higher intelligence and higher purpose, as the whole at any scale is always capable of operating with greater creativity and efficiency than the sum of its parts. With this perspective, we are able to observe a universal process that is capable of continuously producing something of qualitatively higher functionality, content of information, and intelligence, as it is creating its own guidance for and of itself. This is the greatest creativity of the universe: a self-creating, self-organizing living system that is able to grow beyond and continuously manage itself.
With linear perception and linear thinking, the way we illusively separated ourselves from the universe and the brain from the body, we separated the divine (creator) from creation. However, now we know that this is a self-creating system that is capable of creating itself without the need for an outside creator, without any central command. From this perspective we are able to integrate the creator and creation. Acknowledging this unified higher intelligence is in line with various wisdom traditions around the world, as they discovered intuitively that there is a higher intelligence that is governing the system, and that higher intelligence is not found exclusively outside of the body experiencing consciousness, but within ourselves as well.
This brings us back to the seemingly inefficiency and unsustainability of human behavior based on linear modeling that has emerged as part of our self-awareness process. A systems approach focuses on the cognitive process and on connectivity. When it is established that everything is connected and not separated from each other, we can then see the self-awareness of human beings as part of the greater process of a system of higher intelligence. From this perspective, our self-awareness process was not a waste but a detour. As we converted cognitive energy into information, now this information is allowing the greater human network to observe ourselves as part of a greater cognitive process: the process of the whole Earth network becoming aware of all of its parts, and the value of the details of each asset in its own self-organizing process. And so with our awareness of this, our previous role in the greater process has already been achieved, and our self-awareness process was not a waste as it has played its role in this greater process.
Human beings are a byproduct of an amazing creative process. So why are we not consistently performing at the level of creativity of the greater process? Consciously we are not synchronizing with this inherent self-organizing potential. If our will is to perform with our ultimate potential mentally, physically, and spiritually, as a cognitive system, the goal of the Earth is similar to our own: to manifest its greatest potential through the self-organizing process. As the greater guiding system, our planet network defines our destiny. So when we shift our brain from domination of the left-side to cooperation of left-and-right, our brain and body synchronize with the universal, inherent process, and our destiny and will become one.
Mystical, metaphysical, and spiritual experiences are some of the most elegant experiences that we can perceive as humans. But until now, these experiences have not been acknowledged as part of the cognitive process because these experiences could not be explained through reductionist, linear sciences. Now, we are not only able to acknowledge these experiences as a part of our planet’s greater self-awareness process, but we are also able to explain these experiences via this new paradigm of the self-organizing, living universe, by integrating science and spirituality. In traditional philosophy we try to explain the world through linear logic and perception, which does not acknowledge the metaphysical power of the universe. But systemic perception has the potential to enable linear logic to explain mysticism, and the metaphysical power of the universe.
The emerging self-awareness of our green planet enables us to experience a cognitive process which is not limited to mental capacities and intellectual experiences; it is a process that has manifested the amazing potentials of this universe, through the scents of flowers and their beauty, the sounds of birds and animals, the aesthetics and flavors of food, the beauty of the human body, and more. The human experiences of mysticism, art, and eventually science and technology have enabled us to become consciously aware of how this universe works, identify its essential behaviors, and recognize how it is able to manifest itself through this creative process of coming into self-awareness. This may seem like a detour from our natural alignment with the greater cognitive process of our planet as from it emerged our illusive separation of ourselves from the greater system. But this process has been a part of Earth’s overall cognitive, self-awareness process, as Earth wanted to consciously come into awareness of its potential, what it is and how it works; and now, this has been achieved through the shared discoveries of science and spirituality.
We are residing in a living universe, which is made of self-creating, self-healing, self-regulating, self-organizing networks.
Chapter 6:
Digital Age Transformation Era & Hope
Throughout the history of the universe the rate of change, or the time from one stage of complexity to the next, shortens after each progression on an astronomical, planetary, and biological scale. At the human scale, the recent integration of two fundamental components of the universe (information and energy) has created the digital era. This is exponentially accelerating the rate of change, and as a result, scientific understandings and technological advancements are progressing at an astounding rate. While it once took centuries for a paradigm shift to occur, in the digital era it can happen in just a few years; and it will continue to happen much faster than we have ever witnessed before. According to previous Google CEO Eric Schmidt, we now create as much information as we created between the dawn of civilization and 2003 every two days. Recent applications of artificial intelligence are creating cognitive programs and devices that will accelerate this process, creating a world that is highly interconnected, interdependent, interrelated, inseparable, as well as increasingly unpredictable, uncertain, and chaotic. All of this in combination is revealing the unsustainability of our linear model and the political, economic, and ecological systems that stem from it, indicating the emergence of a new paradigm.
Another sign of the digital era being a transformational era of emergence is the degree of separation decreasing within the human network. In the 1970s, the maximum degree of separation between humans was six degrees. Now it is only ~2.7 degrees, and this continues to lessen as the internet and social media are further connecting us via their increasingly interconnected networks. Through this process, the human network is emerging as an increasingly connected, nonlinear network.
In the emergent chaotic zone where there is no proportionality of cause and effect, the self-organizing process emerges as one small thing can cause a major effect because of the correlation of events becoming increasingly nonlinear and highly unpredictable. We can observe this within the global human network with coronavirus, how a thing we cannot even see with the naked eye can connect the whole world and cause major changes in our individual and societal behaviors, in our economics and politics, and so on. Another example is how the price of wheat has been dramatically increasing since the Ukrainian invasion, which could lead to major problems in Africa such as civil unrest and political issues, as much of Africa’s grain imports come from Ukraine and Russia. In previous years, war could take place in one region and seemingly have little or no effect on other parts of the world. Now a conflict in one region can easily cause another in a region we have otherwise categorized as “separate” from the region of direct conflict. With this we can see how our linear approximate model that we created is becoming unsustainable. And so now is the time to shift our linear habits and behaviors to strategies based in systemic and nonlinear modeling that will sync us more closely with the greater self-organizing process, in order for us to more creatively and successfully navigate this emergent process.
As the rate of change is exponentially accelerating in this emergent era, we will continue to observe chaos, unpredictability, uncertainty, and a lack of proportionality between cause and effect. And within this chaotic era, our linear thinking (a judgmental logic) becomes increasingly counterproductive due to the protective nature of linear thinking that is defensive in the face of change, unpredictability, and lack of control. Driven by fear, it leads us to direct our energy towards blame, guilt, and violence when we face the unsustainability of human behavior throughout our social, economic, political, and environmental systems. We see this in the fear that stems from having a decreased sense of control over events and their outcomes, such as how jobs, products, and industries are being eliminated as technology continues to progress. We also can see this internationally in how countries are refusing to synchronize and collaborate as a whole network, as they choose to attempt to outcompete each other by focusing on self-assertiveness, control, and domination. This linear relationship between nations is merely dividing us further and ultimately creating a global whole that is less than the sum of its parts.
The defensive nature of linear perception amplifies a narrative of hyper individualism, guiding us to view each person as alone in the world—separate from a greater system. In attempting to defend a being that perceives itself as solitary, our linear perception magnifies our failures out of fear of repeating them, and as a result emphasizes negativity, violence, and disaster through a lens that ultimately focuses on hopelessness. In this way, the tendency of linear thinking to defend linear modeling and perception brings further chaos via fear, hate, and violence of and towards all that we logically view as “separate” or “other” as it is a mindset that labels any perceived difference as a threat. This linear mindset leads us to behave with the aim of short term gain and blame as it is driven by fear, rather than focusing on finding a systemic solution for the challenges we face.
Chapter 7:
The Source of Social Change & Planetary Application
If we look at the whole human network in lack of systemic solutions, quantitatively it is only a small percentage of that network who are actively responding to the challenges of the emergent era with violence, hate, and unwavering blame, and guiding and consuming the whole network’s potential. By developing an app that provides continuous quantified evaluation of the quality of performance within an individual’s body network, we could monitor the linear modeling that currently dominates the relationships throughout their body in order to observe the shift to systemic modeling and relationship that supports the whole body network. This same app and its systemic evaluation could then be applied at scale to any process or organization, be it political, economic, environmental, corporate, social, and so on. In this way this technology could be used to guide individuals, larger organizations, and even guide the stock market towards more sustainability and certainty. It could potentially also be used to hold our political representatives accountable in their adherence to the guidance of the greater system.
As we previously discussed, when a hub of a network (such as the brain, or a small number of people leading the rest of the group) acts with linear relationship, the whole network will perform as a whole that is less than the sum of its parts. Similarly, when hubs within the global network of nations take a linear approach to internal and global challenges, the entire international network of nations becomes an unsustainable sum that is performing at less than its highest potential. There are several countries and country networks that act as hubs in our global systems, such as the US, the EU, and China. We can examine the behavior and influence of each hub within its own borders and as part of the greater international network in order to identify where we can shift behavior within these hubs to facilitate our journey through this chaotic, emerging process.
As one of these hubs, the United States serves as a model of a powerful, industrialized, democratized nation for the rest of the international network. With its current linear approach, the US is acting as an inefficient hub within the nation itself and abroad; and its short-term gain policy and actions are negatively affecting its own citizens and the rest of the world. In this way the US is also a model of how the short-term gain of domination and competition is inhibiting the whole network’s ability to build a hopeful future.
Within the US, its citizens are dogmatically divided by binary political factions (liberal vs. conservative, progressive vs. traditionalist, etc.) and misinformation, viewing value systems that are different from how each individually identifies as the enemy, thus amplifying defensiveness and inhibiting cooperation. This counterproductive division is modeled by its political representatives as well, as one party (of essentially a two-party system) achieves something for the benefit of that party’s fixed values and certainties, and the other party then goes and undoes whatever its counterpart instated. This “undoing” does just that—reverses any action or attempt at progressing towards the values and goals of either party, leaving no possibility of continuity within the political system, as each party is focusing on their differences rather than shared values, and countering the other’s progress towards any kind of policy change. This linear relationship greatly reduces the political network’s overall potential, and creates a whole system that is less than the sum of its parts, as is the case when hubs in the body act similarly linearly.
As we observe the global economic systems, we see several elements that are showing signs of limitation and an inability to sustain as the stock market is currently modeled on gross consumption. This gross consumption model is reaching limitations in terms of Earth’s resources that support it and our linear expectation for its ongoing growth. Additionally, we are seeing a dramatic decline in the spending power of the population that is responsible for 70% of consumption, the middle- and low-income populations. As uncertainty in the stock market economy increases in this emergent era, money is rapidly shifting from the middle and lower populations to the minority of the highest earning population, increasing the inequality gap. This is happening as the rapid rate of change in technology (such as artificial intelligence, gene therapy, 3D printing, etc.) is simultaneously leading to the elimination of service and manufacturing jobs across industries, which all in combination could bring social unrest and further division.
Though the linear perception that has developed out of linear thinking is reductive and arguably an incomplete model of our universe and any nonlinear network within it, the process of us developing this left-side, judgmental thinking has not been a wasted effort. Through this process we not only developed an awareness of the domination of this model (as we are speaking on it now), we also created detailed knowledge of how this self-organizing process works universally. And in this way, this detour can be observed as a necessary step in the expansion of consciousness for the whole human network.
One of the most powerful properties describing this shared simplicity of self-organizing networks is universality, as it allows the familiarity of one network (such as the human body) to lead to an understanding of the properties of any other network at scale. Now that we are able to become aware of this process as self-organizing, our next step is for us to move beyond our exclusively linear, liability-based perspective and apply what we have learned from our observations of the human body to develop systemic approaches to our current challenges. And we can do this by focusing on solutions we are capable of implementing by acknowledging, sharing, and synchronizing our assets.
The systemic approach equips us with nonlinear perception, allowing us to create systemic solutions by acknowledging that we are participants in this greater, emerging, self-organizing process. With nonlinear perception we are able to redirect our fixed focus from liabilities to the appreciation of the assets we’ve achieved thus far. If hub nations were to shift to a nonlinear approach by aiming for long-term gain by investing in (and expanding) their assets through cooperation and partnership between currently competing systemic structures, this would facilitate newfound certainty by permitting new uses of established industries and technologies. Instead of focusing on one-upping each other they could each find their place within a nested system that is working together for a greater whole. By synchronizing our actions and assets, we will be able to more easily and creatively participate in this inevitable, emerging process and become conscious participants who are in sync with the systems larger than ourselves.
As one would not favor a map that purposefully leaves out life-saving waypoints, we are updating our understanding of our mapping of our universe, planet, and ourselves in order to traverse further through human history with greater collective ease. Guided by the nonlinear assessment of an app that monitors members of the human network and greater societal networks, we could implement policy that is quantitatively evaluated and continuously verified based on how closely the individual parts of networks are performing with nonlinear values. This app could provide guidance for all systems at all scales, and help manage any organization by reevaluating, reorganizing, and then reallocating its assets to perform more efficiently as an economically and ecologically minded entity. It could also guide linearly separate systems and industries currently competing through various models of planned obsolescence and sync them to focus on assets and resources that are in regenerating demand: clean energy, water, information processing, and food.
Consider the US Department of Defense and Intelligence Community as a hub within the government network’s assets, as they collectively consume a significant portion of the US government’s total annual budget. Collectively, this defensive hub is made up of many of our most intelligent and highly trained personnel, people of discipline and of high physical and mental ability creating the world’s most advanced technology and devising and implementing advanced strategy throughout these defense-driven sectors. But as the US continues to invest in defense technologies and use this technology to dominate other countries, the government is not directly netting a return on its investment. As this hub performs with linear relationship to the rest of the system, each individual is taking on the high cost of high-stress environments involving combat and domination mentally, emotionally, and physically, which they each then must grapple with to some extent when they leave their work environment and re-enter their familial networks at home. In this way, this hub within the US government is not performing at its highest potential for its members, nor is it performing efficiently for the nation as a whole or as a part of the international network.
However, with a shift towards systemic relationship, if the defensive hub were to introduce the information and technologies to entrepreneurs of national and international markets, it could gain a return on its investment and eventually pay back the government’s deficit. This convergence of innovation could also bring certainty to the stock market during this uncertain time by permitting the public the use of these technologies and thus financially incentivizing further development of such tech. Instead of “sticking to our guns” and fighting this inevitable accelerating rate of change by limiting our use of our highest technological achievements exclusively to defense, this would allow for these achievements to be used for advancements focused on improving assets beyond just our defense systems. The intelligence and discipline of those whose careers are currently being used to defend assets via war could be applied towards building a better world, and those currently profiting from war-making could profit from peace. The profit from taking this tech to market could then be used to invest in finding solutions to domestic challenges, improving social services, and creating a sustainable cycle of life-supporting systems, rather than one that is fueled by violence and war.
This would change the US from a hub of linear modeling into an emergent, model nation of systemic relationship to the rest of the world. As we are witnessing a rapid change of intensity and frequency of severe weather and natural disasters around the world causing major disruptions and migration of people from south to north and east to west, this currently defensive hub could be mobilized to focus on finding and implementing solutions to these challenges. By shifting to systemic values of cooperation, we can use our assets of intelligence, discipline, and technology that this hub possesses to focus on the development of resources in regenerative demand. This would allow this hub to develop models of sustainable, green cities in countries that have been destroyed by war, and then use this modeling to scale to systems around the world.
This is but one example of how a hub within a government can work more systemically and efficiently to serve its citizens and the world. Just imagine: when the military network of the world becomes self-aware of their assets, will they continue to fight and suffer the consequences of warfare? They may realize how we humans have invested so much time, money, and intelligence into technology we never wish to have to use (e.g., nuclear weaponry); and then they might choose, rather than fight and compete, to apply their assets to systemic relationships of peace and build a more sustainable world.
So where do we begin this process?
If we look at the Earth as a network, human beings are the hub that uses the most resources of the Earth and has the most domination over the rest of the inhabitants of the whole network, even though we are but a small portion of the entire network of our planet. Like any hub of any network, when acting with linear perception and relationship, it causes unsustainability of the whole network. But by shifting to a systemic relationship, we will bring stability to the whole network of Earth.
Within the human network, only a small percentage of the entire network is living within circumstances where they can think beyond their daily needs for survival. This network is the one that can become the hub of the human intelligence network. Within this network there is a further hub: those who are already aware of the emergent, self-organizing process. Those who are intuitively aware of this happening make up a network of spiritual thinkers; and those who are able to understand intellectually are the hub made up of systems thinkers and network theorists. Among these systems and spiritual thinkers, there is yet another hub: those who are highly connected with greater networks and also possess higher levels of knowledge and understanding of this emergent process. They are the thinkers who have already communicated these understandings of how our planet is a living, self-organizing system, and identified the essential behaviors of a living system. So these thinkers are the ones who now are capable of applying nonlinear relationship amongst themselves to create a community of attuned systems thinkers that is greater than the sum of its parts by enriching, distilling, and delivering this knowledge collaboratively to the whole systems thinkers network worldwide. Then by bridging the conversation with the hubs within the greater spiritual network who already have an intuitive understanding and belief in this emerging process we are experiencing, we will be able to synchronize networks, and create a whole that is greater than the sum of its otherwise separate parts—and eventually this knowledge we develop will become an essential part of the collective consciousness of the human network and our planet.
Chapter 8:
What is the Principle Quality or Feeling of the Universe?
Our observation shows that our planet Earth is providing a smooth ride around the solar system while providing for all our needs 365 days a year, regardless of how we are treating it in return. We see this with our Sun, whose core goes through the 27,000,000°F fusion process to create photons that reach the Earth in 28 minutes, providing energy that plants and other inhabitants transform to be further used by all of Earth’s inhabitants. And the Sun doesn’t offer this energy upon certain conditions of how we will use it. As we see the Sun and Earth as modeling the sharing of resources without expectation, we can view them as models of unconditional love. We also can observe this quality in dogs. They consume maybe 1/10th of what a human does, and they create maybe 100 times more unconditional love as they are tuned with this greater, self-organizing, loving system that we are all a part of.
One reason spiritual experiences are one of the most advanced and unique experiences of human beings, and through these experiences we can discover the overall feeling of the universe. Spiritual experiences come through various modalities including immense suffering, near death experiences, via dance or trance states, deep meditation or focus, intense physical activity, and by consuming psychedelic compounds. A quality that is shared between these states is that a person can experience the loss of their illusive separation, and they experience an awareness of being one with the greater network. In this stage, there is an immense feeling of love, peace, and calm.
Unconditional love is a most enjoyable human experience and is the pinnacle of the emotional part of the cognition process. After all, most spiritual beliefs hold that the fabric of the universe is made of love and that the primary duty of human beings is to recognize and manifest this concept as the ultimate goal of the spiritual journey. In his work The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell shows how most mythical stories of human beings are telling us that the main purpose of creation is the manifestation of unconditional love. In Christianity, for example, these values found their physical embodiment in Jesus Christ’s experience and his core beliefs. On the other hand, the self-serving, protective nature of our linear perception codes our judgments with blame, guilt, and hate. Thinking in terms of blame hinders our ability to forgive, which is an inherent quality of unconditional love.
The mythology of Sufism also states that the creator is love, and it wanted to manifest itself in physical form, so it created angels. But these angels could not feel and suffer the pain that accompanies love. So it created human beings, who are capable of feeling and suffering, to manifest this ultimate goal of creation. In this way, humans are seen as capable of experiencing a more vast spectrum of divine love. This teaching ultimately embodies itself in a great number of Sufis’ personal life experiences. The values were explored in the poetry of love, inspired by the experiences of Rumi, a renowned Persian poet and Sufi mystic born in 1207, and a century later in the work of Hafez, “a Muslim, Persian-speaking sage whose collection of love poetry rivals only Mawlana Rumi in terms of its popularity and influence” (Omid Safi).
Through Love all that is bitter will sweeten.
Through Love all that is copper will be gold.
Through Love all dregs will turn to purest wine.
Through Love all pain will turn to medicine.
Through Love the dead will all become alive.
Through Love the king will turn into a slave!
—Rumi
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Hopefully system thinkers and network theorists will consider and find some value in this discussion. And then we can start this process by having open discussions that further our collaborative understanding.
In further discussion, we will go more into detail of how these linear models are unsustainable. If we are able to shift these systems into systems of nonlinear relationship and values, this will lead to greater success individually, collectively, and ecologically. Eventually, we will add other media such as animation and other visualization to this explanation and discussion in order to communicate the message to a wider audience who might not be as familiar with the terms and subjects. And then we will be better able to offer this knowledge to younger generations and women-led networks, to empower them to bring change based in hope, peace, love, and collaboration.
Thank you for reading. May we find the most highly efficient and creative ways to inspire hope and facilitate our collective transformation into this new nonlinear era.
